2015 has been a busy year for relations between China and Halle. The first Chinese language teacher provided by the Confucius Institute in Beijing has been working at the University of Halle since this April. In May, the University of Halle and the Beijing University of International Business and Economics sealed a partnership. And through the Panda Programme, the University of Halle was represented at the largest education fairs in China. Read more

Pizzas, sweets and crisps – we all know that these kinds of food are unhealthy, but we still don’t want to give them up. That is why, rather than focusing on changing our eating habits, researchers from the universities of Halle, Jena and Leipzig have come together in the “nutriCARD” competence cluster to try and make food healthier. By doing so, they hope to prevent cardiovascular diseases in the long term. Cardiovascular diseases are the main cause of death in Europe, but the World Health Organisation says that changing eating habits and adopting a healthier lifestyle could stop the diseases developing in 80 percent of cases. Read more

5000 years ago the Brazilian natives mixed their clay with additional materials for improvement of the resistance and durability of their pottery. An important role played microscopically small glass needles of freshwater tree sponges, which was detected by an international team of researchers led by Dr. Filipe Natalio of the Institute of Chemistry at Halle University. Read more

Always online, always available. According to a study carried out by the Association of the German Information and Telecommunications Sector, 77 percent of Germany’s workforce is reachable by mobile phone or e-mail after hours by colleagues, managers or customers. Psychologists at Martin-Luther-University in Halle are getting to the bottom of the phenomenon of being constantly available. Read more

Skype, Google Drive and Dropbox: virtual work has never been easier than it is today. Nevertheless, many teams have problems when they only collaborate online. Professor Anne-Katrin Neyer and her colleagues are studying how we can better organise virtual cooperation. In an interview, she explains what to keep in mind when you don’t work in the same office or country. Read more

ThiNhat Phuong Nguyen has been working on the perfect cocoa for over a year. Cocoa that doesn’t clump and stick. The PhD student turns ice crystals into cocoa tablets at the Chair for Thermal Process Technology. The process could one day be a solution to pharmaceutical problems. Read more

Is a fossil from the Geisel Valley the first proof that crocodiles cared for their brood? How were five different crocodile species able to share a single habitat? Finds from the Geisel Valley date back to the Eocene Epoch and still hold many secrets. These secrets are attracting researchers from around the world, including Alexander Hastings. When speaking to Hastings about his work, it quickly becomes clear what has drawn the young palaeontologist from Florida to Halle, of all places. Read more

The Armenian highlands in Syunik Province on the border to Nagorno-Karabakh are home to breathtakingly beautiful volcanic landscapes made up of massive basalt rock. Thousands of pictures depicting animals and humans have been chiselled into these rocks by prehistoric people. Archaeologists from Saxony-Anhalt have joined forces with colleagues from Armenia to study and document these cliff drawings, which date back at least 5,000 years. Their aim is to submit a World Cultural Heritage application to UNESCO. Read more

German studies professor Dr. Elisabeth Décultot (46) from France is one of the world’s most renowned Enlightenment researchers. Currently working in Paris, she will transfer to Halle in winter semester. This is being made possible by the Alexander von Humboldt professorship, Germany’s most highly endowed international research prize, and Décultot is the first literary scholar to receive it. Read more